Fahima Mahamud admitted submitting false claims to child care and federal nutrition programs that paid her center millions of dollars.
MINNEAPOLIS, MN — A former Minneapolis day care operator pleaded guilty to federal fraud charges after admitting that she collected more than $5 million through false child care and meal reimbursement claims.
Fahima Egeh Mahamud, 50, entered guilty pleas Thursday, July 9, to one count of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States. Mahamud operated Future Leaders Early Learning Center in south Minneapolis. Prosecutors said the center received more than $4.6 million from Minnesota’s Child Care Assistance Program and more than $850,000 through the federal child nutrition program involved in the Feeding Our Future case.
The Child Care Assistance Program uses state and federal money to help eligible low-income families pay for child care. Payments are intended to cover care that was actually provided. Prosecutors charged Mahamud as part of a broader federal enforcement action announced in May involving 15 defendants and more than $90 million in alleged fraud across Minnesota public-benefit programs.
Federal prosecutors said Mahamud submitted false records to the child care program between October 2022 and November 2025. The claims included care for children whose families did not make required copayments, according to court filings cited by local news organizations. Authorities said Future Leaders received more than $4.6 million from those claims.
Mahamud also admitted participating in a separate scheme connected to Feeding Our Future, the Minnesota nonprofit at the center of a wide-ranging federal child nutrition fraud investigation. Prosecutors said Future Leaders claimed to serve tens of thousands of meals to children while providing only a fraction of the meals listed in its reimbursement requests.
The center received more than $850,000 through Feeding Our Future from December 2020 through July 2021, according to charging documents. Prosecutors previously said the business reported serving as many as 60,000 children in a month and used false invoices to support its claims. Court records cited by CBS Minnesota showed that about $125,000 of the money was spent on food.
The Feeding Our Future investigation has produced dozens of federal cases involving money intended to provide meals to children during the COVID-19 pandemic. Mahamud became the 79th person charged in connection with the broader case when prosecutors filed a wire fraud charge against her in February. Her guilty plea resolves that charge and the later child care fraud case.
Future Leaders drew added attention after appearing in a viral online video that questioned operations at several Minnesota day care centers. State officials later said the centers shown in the video had been visited during routine licensing checks. State records indicate Future Leaders closed early this year.
Under Mahamud’s plea agreement, federal sentencing guidelines call for an estimated prison term of 27 to 33 months, according to court documents reviewed by FOX 9. The judge is not required to follow that range and may impose a sentence above or below it after reviewing the case and a presentence report.
Mahamud was released under conditions while the presentence report is prepared. A sentencing date has not been set.
Author note: Last updated July 13, 2026.